Walles Rally GB: BP-Ford leg one summary

Hirvonen holds second as WRC title battle rages in Wales
A thrilling opening day of the FIA World Rally Championship decider in
Great Britain ended with BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team drivers Mikko
Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen lying second,...

Hirvonen holds second as WRC title battle rages in Wales

A thrilling opening day of the FIA World Rally Championship decider in
Great Britain ended with BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team drivers Mikko
Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen lying second, just 5.3sec from the lead. The
Finns, in a Ford Focus RS World Rally Car, traded seconds with drivers'
title rival Sebastien Loeb through six speed tests in the muddy forests
of mid-Wales, before journeying south to the Rally of Great Britain's
Cardiff base tonight with the title outcome still in the balance.

Team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila are ninth in another
Focus RS WRC after struggling through virtually the entire day with only
two-wheel drive on their car.

Just a single point separated the title protagonists going into this 12th
and final round of the season. After last night's start ceremony in the
Welsh capital, drivers faced the long journey north to tackle two
identical loops of three special stages covering 130.30km in the classic
forests of central Wales. The gravel tracks were muddy and slippery
after rain throughout the week, and fog this morning ensured all the
ingredients for a classic Rally of Great Britain were in place.

As expected, Hirvonen and Loeb established themselves at the top of the
leaderboard from the very start. Ford's 29-year-old Finn was second in
all three tests during the opening loop to reach the short service halt
in Builth Wells 8.9sec behind his rival. The team lowered the ride
height on Hirvonen's car there and he won the first and last stages in
the second loop to reduce the margin to 5.3sec as cars headed south for
the overnight halt.

"It wasn't a perfect morning but it wasn't a disaster either," said
Hirvonen. "I was too cautious and made some small mistakes. I slid too
wide in some corners and perhaps I was trying to drive too hard. I felt
confident but I knew I needed to make my driving neater because I
couldn't afford to drop any more seconds. My driving was much better
this afternoon and if I can keep that level tomorrow then I will be
happy.

"We're two Finns in a rally car that are fighting for our lives. The
battle is on. I wanted to end the day in close contact with Loeb and
I've achieved that. The weather forecast for tomorrow is bad and I think
we're going to get rain, fog and high winds in the morning. If that's
the case then I have to trust my pace notes and push hard. I'm not
scared of making a mistake," he added.

Latvala's hopes were dented on the opening stage in Hafren when a front
left driveshaft broke, which in turn damaged the pipe containing the
fluid for the front brakes. The fluid leaked out leaving the 24-year-old
Finn with no braking at the front as well as only rear-wheel drive. He
dropped four minutes to reach Builth Wells in 10th. The brakes were
repaired, but Latvala's Focus RS WRC did not have a replacement
driveshaft onboard and regulations allowed teams to only use replacement
parts that are carried in the rally car. He drove the afternoon with
just rear-wheel drive, losing a further 2min 30sec.

"It was a frustrating morning," said Latvala. "After about 24km of the
first stage I turned into a corner and the front left driveshaft broke
and the car spun. I don't know how it happened. I had a few close
escapes as a result of driving without brakes at the front and nudged a
bank in the second test. Unfortunately we couldn't fix the car properly
but at least we managed to repair the brakes. We'll make full repairs
tonight and I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I enjoy these roads so I'll
drive as fast as I can, try to get a good feel with the car and set good
times."

Abu Dhabi's Khalid Al Qassimi and Michael Orr lost more than 10 minutes
on the morning's final test with a broken driveshaft in the team's other
Focus RS WRC. Like his team-mate, Al Qassimi did not have a replacement
in the rally car and although he left the Builth Wells service, the
37-year-old Emirati retired on the liaison section shortly afterwards.

BP Ford Abu Dhabi team director Malcolm Wilson said the pace at the top
of the leaderboard was 'incredible'. "Mikko enjoyed a great day and it's
amazing to see the top two drivers competing at that pace on the opening
day. We made some ride height changes to Mikko's car at lunchtime and
that helped him win two stages this afternoon. It wasn't easy for
Jari-Matti. A driveshaft joint failure cost him time, but he did a
fantastic job with a car that was difficult to drive. I thought he would
lose more time," said Wilson.

News from other Ford teams

Stobart VK M-Sport's Henning Solberg and Cato Menkerud lie sixth in a
Focus RS WRC despite a daylong engine misfire with team-mates Matthew
Wilson and Scott Martin just 32.9sec behind in seventh. The Britons
struggled for traction all day in slow corners and fitted a new gearbox
this evening. The team's third car, driven by Steve Perez and Paul
Spooner, is 16th.

Tomorrow's Route

The second leg is the longest of the rally, mixing the long Rhondda test
in the Vale of Neath with the traditional second day tests further north,
near Brecon. After leaving Cardiff at 07.10, drivers face two loops of
three identical forest stages, before returning to the Welsh capital for
the final overnight halt at 20.18.